MIT Edgerton Center Authorized STEM Courses in Beijing

What is kinetic sculpture? How does DNA damage cause mutations? Why do NASA scientists and astronauts care about DNA? What’s the relationship between the increased level of carbon dioxide and health? How does a miniature autonomous underwater glider work?

SeaGlide

Students who have a great science nerve may find the MIT Edgerton Center authorized STEM courses really thrilling! Even those who are not so much into science and technology, this could be a great chance to find out interesting and important issues related to life quality. Answers to the questions above will be dynamically explored during the soon coming three-week STEM courses in December and early January provided by Diligence & Delight Learning Center (DDC).

Formally put, STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. It is a new, science-related arena, but involves much more than just the traditional concept of science.

Established in 2014, DDC is devoted to drive the combination of “Critical & Creative Thinking” and China’s traditional “Knowledge Teaching” concepts by introducing advanced scientific and technological as well as educational concepts from the US. It works closely with the MIT Edgerton Center and world renowned experts of STEM projects. “We have Jeff Sheehan to help with our strategic planning, and Shelagh Gallagher who gave us great input on STEM courses. Shelagh won 7 curriculumn awards of the National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC).” DDC’s Founder Anne Liu told BeijingKids. “We have very high standard of choosing experts and teachers. All of our teachers are from the US and interviewed by our top expert. Their qualifications and prior experiences are recognized by MIT Edgerton Center. The Center also sent teachers here. Last year, we got Jonathan Schmid (Award-winning educator) on visit for the first time to see our operations. This summer, he taught one course (3D) here. We formally got MIT Edgerton Center’s authorization of our STEM courses in October.”

Annie Liu, Founder of DDC.

After obtaining her bachelor and Master’s degree in engineering from two of China’s top universities, Liu went to the US to study at the famous Kellogg School of Management for her EMBA. After that, she worked at one of the four major accounting firms Arthur Anderson. Having turned to education business in the last 2 years, Liu has successfully and confidently combined her previous experiences in engineering and business to form some very sound judgment in education.

In this batch, three STEM course will be offered, namely Kinetic Sculpture, Biological Genne, and SeaGlide. “I am not an education professional so my understanding is more from the outter perspective”, Liu humbly said. “A STEM course usually incorporates more than one subject of study and research. It is a project or problem solving based program. For example, the Kinetic Sculpture course requires understanding of art (how it looks), design (how it is put together), and dynamics (how it works). The whole project will involve knowledge of many subjects, e.g. engineering, physics and math. Our other course, The EcoDetectives, requires substantial knowledge in geography, chemistry and logic reasoning.” Liu passionately explained.

“As STEM is usually a team work and requires input not only from just one person, we have a great team, formed by scientists/experts in related subject areas, designers and other personnel to cooperate on each specific course.” She added.

The courses will be available in December for students of three age groups: grade 4, grade 5 and grade 6 at the cost of a RMB600 registration fee plus a week course fee of RMB8,800 or a three-week course fee of RMB23,600, respectively. However, as all courses are meant for the top students, it does not mean that paying the fee will guarantee a place.

Liu gave clear standards on enrollment requirements, stating that, “As this is a program for gifted students, we look for really those students with great academic capacity. Applicants need to submit an academic report of within the top 20%, plus great English skills. All courses will be conducted in English at the British School Beijing and Dulwich College Beijing. Students also need to show a MAP test result from an authorized institution or from us.”

For more information on the STEM courses, you can contact DDC at phone 8049 0079 or go on www.dd-learning.com.